von bassus



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

Ky?. VON BASSUS.

HARMONIUM.

N0. 589,066. Patented Aug. 31,1897.

Ffygf TH: oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo n (No Model.)SSheets-S'heet 2.

K. F. VON BASSUS.

HARMONIUM.

No. 539,066. Pmn'ted AugE 31,1897.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

K. P. VON BASSUS.

HARMNIUM. l 4 No. 589,066. Patentd Aug. 31,1897.

UNITED STATES PATENT GEEICE.

KONRAD FRII. VON BASSUS, OF MUNICH, GERMANY.

HARMONIUM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 589,066, dated August8l, 1897.

Application filed March 21, 1896x Serial No. 584,320. (No model.)Patented in Germany March 24 .To @ZZ whom, t 11e/,ty concer/1,.

Be it known that I, KONRAD FRH. VON Bris- SUs, a citizen of the Empireof Germany, rosiding at Munich, Bavaria, Germany, have i nvented certainnew and useful Improvements in Harmoniu ms, (patented in German y March24.-, 1895, No. 84,497,) of which the following is a specication.

Myinvention relates to an improvement in harinoniums or organs, andparticularly to a combination stop-action for such instruments and meansfor operating such an action.

The main object of my invent-ion is to provide means whereby theperformer may change the timbre or strength of the tono, or both,simultaneously without the necessity of removing the hands from thekeys.

The invention consists in the features, dotails of construction, andcombination of parts, which will Iirst be described in connection withthe accompanying drawings,and then particularly pointed out in theclaims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional view of a harmonium,taken just below the diaphragm and illustrating one embodiment of myinvention; Fig. 2, a detail transverse sectional view with the diaphragmand its attached parts removed; Fig. 3, a detail front elevation Fig.,4, a bottom plan view of the diaphragm, showing the stopae tions inplace thereon; Fig. 5, a view at right angles to Fig. 4; Figs. G to 9,detail views to be referred to hereinafter, and Fig. lO a detailtransverse sectional view showing a part of the action in sideelevation. Fig. l1 is a detail View showing the mannerof connecting theiiaps B6 Bs and B5 BT. Fig. l2 is a shortcned detail view of the apronD.

Referring to the drawings, Ais a diaphragm secured in the casing A ofthe harmonium and serving to support the action which is located on theunder side of the same. This action in the present case comprises thefollowing construction: v

To the under side of the diaphragm A are hinged atb, Fig. 4L, a seriesof flaps or valves B to B11, inclusive, which servo to control thesupply of air under pressure to the various sets of reeds, these napsbeing placed ove openings in the diaphragm A.

To the under side of the diaphragm A and at suitable points between thevarious flaps B are placed shafts Cl, C2, C3, and C4, provided withgudgeons, which are rotatable in lugs or ears c, secured to theunderside of v,the diaphragm, the shafts C"E and C4 having their axes inline with cach other. The shafts C and C? are cach provided with an armor target c c2, for a purpose hereinafter described, these arms ortargets being in the present instance located at opposite ends of theirrespective shafts, as shown in Fig. et, and preferably project downward.The diaphragm A also carries a pivotallynnounted apron or small board D,provided with gudgcons mounted rotatably in lugs CZ, projecting downwardfrom the under side of the diaphragm.

rlhe stop mechanism comprises a series of pulls or stops, which I haveindicated by the reference-letter E, Figs. 3 and lO, with exponent-scorresponding to those of the referenceletter B applied to the ilaps orvalves, in order that the connections between each pull or stop and itsvalve may be readily traced. For brevity, however, the reference-letterswill be used without the exponents as referring to all the parts of akind.

Each stop E is connected by a wire c to a lever F, provided with acam-shoe j', which bears against the cap of a stud g, passing through ahole in the diaphragm and con nected to or formed integral with abell-crank G, pivoted on the underside of the diaphragm, as shown inFig. 7. These bell-cranks G are connected to their corresponding flapsby wires II, the exponents of the reference-letters G, II, andBindicating the respective connected parts. For instance, the wire IIconnects the belllcrank G and the iiap B', the wire II2 the bell-crankG2 and the flap B2, and so on.

By the construction described the flaps or valves may be individuallyopened by drawing out their respective stops or pulls E, each stop orpull when thus drawn out being held against accidental inward movementby the friction between the respective cam-shoe f andthe cap of thecorresponding stud g, the flaps being each provided with a leafspringZJ', whereby when the respective stops are pushed in the flaps or valveswill be closed by said springs.

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In order to permit the flaps or valves to be actuated by mechanism asidefrom that just described and which will be explained hereinafter, thewires Hare attached to their respective flaps in a manner to permit acertain amount of lost motion inthe direction of opening the flaps. Thisis done, preferably, as follows: Each flap is provided with an ear b2,having an opening through which its corresponding wire H passes freely,said wire being provided with a nut or nuts 7u at one side or at cachside of said ear, the nut on that side of the ear farthest removed fromthe respective bell-crank G being located in close contact with saidear, whereas the nut, if any, on the other side of the ear is slightlyremoved therefrom, whereby, if the flap be opened by means independentof its individual pull-wire, it will be free to move without its earactuating` the said wire.

The flaps B5 and B7, B6 and BS, it will beM noticed, are connected byarms b3, each arm being fixed to one of the outer flaps and providedwith a hole at the other end, through which passes loosely' a stud b4,secured to the corresponding` adjacent iiap, and provided at its freeend with a cap arranged out of contact with its arm when the flaps arein their closed position. By this construction each fiap of the twopairs B and B7, BG and B8 is capable of a limited amount of movementindependent of the adjacent flap to which it is connected, while at thesame time by opening each flap to a considerable extent the adjacentflap to which it is connected will also be opened .to an extentsufiicient to allow theair to pass through its opening, therebypermitting two sets of reeds to sound simultaneously by drawing outeither one of the two stops to the necessary extent.

ln addition to the above-mention ed connection between the flaps B andB8 the latter flap is also connected to the flap B11 bya wire I, soattached to said flaps as to permit a slight amount of lost motion inthe same way as described with relation to the manner of attaching thewires il to their respective flaps, whereby when the flap B11 is opened,by pulling ont its respective pull or stop E11 to the full extent, itwill also open the flaps Bs and B6, thus permitting` three sets of reedsto sound simultaneously.

K', K2, K3, and K1 are knee-levers movably connected to the front of theharmonium or organ casing A', preferably by liinging, as shown in Figs.l and 3, said knee-levers being in pairs, the members of each pair beingarranged to move toward and from each other. On that side of each leveraway from the corresponding lever of its own pair is an arm, lug, orprojection 7U" 7a4, extending approximately at right angles to itsrespective knee-lever, the said arms, lugs, or projections beingarranged to contact with the outwardprojecting ends of stickers L' L2LSL1. Each sticker is adapted to move longitudinally, being guided inopenings in the easing A' and in a block or support Z' l2 Z3 Z1, securedto any suitable Vlixed part of the instrument. Each sticker, moreover,is normally held outward by a spring device-such, for instance, as thecoiled springs m' m2 m5 -m1-snrrounding the stickers, as shown in Fig.i, each spring bearing` against a collar n' a1, fixed on the respectivesticker and also against the block Z' Z1. By this construction eachknee-lever is pressed toward the opposite kneelever of the pair to whichit belongs and to such an extent that it will normally standapproximatelyat right angles to the front of the instrument, but may beswung toward the opposite member of its pair until it is iiat againstthe front of the instrument, one knee -lever K3 being shown in thisclosed position in Fig. l.

The sticker L' is located so that its inner end is opposite and incomparatively close proximity to the target c', whereby when the saidsticker is forced inward the said end contracts with the said target andthen partly rotates the shaft c'. This shaft is connected by the wiresO', P', Q', R', and S' to the flap B, the shaft C1, and the flags B1,B7, and B3, respectively.

The sticker L2 in asimilar manneroperates the shaft C2, the latter beingconnected by wires O2, P2, Q2, R2, S2, T2, and U2 to the shaft C'1 andto the flaps B2, B1, BS, B7, B3, and B', respectively.

The sticker L3 is arranged to contact with a target d3, secured to theapron D, while the sticker L1 is also arranged to contact with a targetd'1 on the apron, whereby said apron is given a partial rotation, thisapron being connected bywires O3 P3 Q3 R3 V3 to the flaps BS B2 Bl1 B10B' B'J B3 B7, respectively. in addition the said apron is also connectedby a wire or rod O to two arms c3 c1 on the ends of the shafts C3 C1,respectively, and, moreover, is connected by a rod or wire H12 with abelln crank G12, operated from the stop E12 in the samemanner as thebell-cranks G' to G11, pre vionsly described. Furthermore, the apron Dis connected by a rod or wire T3 to the flap B11.

The two rods C3 Cl are each connected by wires H13 H11 with bell-cranklevers G13 G11, respectively. As these levers are intended to be usedfor operating the dampers for the base and treble, the constructionintervening between them and their individual stops E13 E11 is somewhatmodified. This construetion will now be described in connection with thetreble-forte mechanism, that for the base being the same.

Referring to Eig. iO of the drawings, it will be seen that thebell-crank G13 is connected by a vertical wire Q13 to one arm of aswinging lever F13, fulcrumed atl/"1t and carrying the damper L, whichnormally rests on the top of the chest M, in which the tongues or reedsN are located, whereby the sound is damped. By the movement of thebell-crank G13 the lever F13 is swung on its pivot and the damper Llifted, thus accomplishing the forte IOO IIC

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expression on the treble of the instrument. i what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by To the lever F13 is also connected a pull-wire @13,which connects said lever to the stop E13. By these various connections,as above described, the flaps may be opened singly or invariouscombinations and the dampers raised at the time when either oneset oi reeds or various sets of reeds are being` used. Moreover, byusing,` the knee-levers various combinations of stops may be made.

The most important feature of the mechanism thus described is theconstruction and arrangement of the knee-levers in such a manner thatthe knees of the performer may be inserted each between the two membersof one pair of levers and a change can be made from one combination ofstops to another without any break in the music and without taking thehands from the keys by merely moving the knee or knees from one side tothe other-that is, from the right to the left, or vice versa.

By the employment of two pairs of kneelevers a still greater advantagearises from the fact that a new mode of operation may beiiitroduced-that is, each lever of a pair may be operated to throw acombination in action at the time one of the opposite kneelevers isbeing used to throw another combination into action, thus producing`still a new combination of reeds.

Having` thus fully described my invention,

Letters Patent, is-

l. In an organ or similar instrument the combination, with astop-action, of a pair of knee-levers so placed as to admit the knee ofthe performer between its constituent members, and mechanism connectedto the parts of the stop-action and arranged to be actuated by theknee-levers, the operating` movement of one lever of the pair being in adirection opposite to that of the operating movement oi' the other leverof the same pair, substantially as described.

2. In an organ or similar instrument, the combination, withastop-action, of two pairs of knee-levers, each pair being,` so placed asto admit the knee of the performer between its constituent members, andmechanism connected to the parts of the stop-action and arranged to beactuated by the knee-levers, the operating movement of one lever of eachpair being,` in a direction opposite to that of the operating movementof the other lever of the same pair, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing,r as my invention I have signedmy name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

KONRAD FRI-l. VON BASSUS.

Witnesses:

ALBERT iVnicimrANN, KARL MASTER.

